After debuting in 2007 with Magic Bites (Reviewed HERE), the first volume in the Kate Daniels urban fantasy series, the husband/wife duo of Ilona Andrews has consistently produced a new Kate Daniels novel every year around the last week of May/first week of June, while also writing The Edge series. During this time, not only have the authors’ novels progressively improved, but their fans have also increased exponentially.

Unfortunately, after this year’s release of Magic Slays (Reviewed HERE)—the fifth book in the Kate Daniels series—the authors revealed that they had been dropped from their UK publisher. To make matters worse, the authors were experiencing an issue with the plot of the sixth book, which is explained in this blog post that was posted on July 18th:

“We don’t really know when Kate 6 will be released. It’s not written yet, and typically I would say “May of next year,” however we’re hitting a storyline snag. For the timeline to make sense, we need a Andrea/Raphael spin-off to happen before Kate 6 takes place. How this is going to work, I have no idea. That’s a conversation we’ll have after FATE’S EDGE edits are turned in and it’s off on its way to publication.”

After the edits for Fate’s Edge were turned in, the authors posted some new information HERE about Kate 6, which is now tentatively scheduled for publication in February 2013:

“We are actually doing this for a good reason. We have Kate 6 pretty much figured out, but for it to work we need to resolve the Andrea situation. The Andrea book is set in Atlanta, and takes place between Magic Slays and Kate 6 timeline wise. Kate & Curran will be in it, but are side characters. It is Andrea’s story, the one where she decides if she will be in the Pack and perhaps more importantly who she will be with romantically. As I said, we have it figured out and we are going with a new villain and mythology. Not sure how much I am allowed to say. Also, for the rest of this year and the next we will be working to put out extra content via eBooks.”

So with this announcement, the current release schedule for the Magic series is as follows:

1) Andrea book—5/31/2012

2) Kate 6—2/2013

3) Jim/Dali book or Kate 7—Late 2012/2013

The bright side to these delays is that the authors will be providing “extra content” to help alleviate the extended wait for the forthcoming releases. This year—most likely—readers we will get to see a Kate & Curran novella, which is described as follows (provided generously and exclusively by the authors):

Sometimes even the Beast Lord and the Consort have to take a break from protecting the Pack. Sometimes they just want to have a nice quiet dinner out in town. And then a necromancer at the nearby table dies, the lose vampires come flying through the glass windows, and before you know it the walls of the restaurant are redecorated in a lovely shade of red. What seems at first to be an unfortunate accident turns into a slow murder of a child. Now Kate and Curran must follow the clues to stop an ancient power intent on revenge. To succeed, they must bargain with Vikings, face horrifying undead, and hardest of all, work with each other!

The events of the novella will be occurring simultaneously with the Andrea novel and will be self-released by the authors. Which just shows much Ilona Andrews cares about their fans! The authors would also like to add a disclaimer that their publisher put no pressure on them in regards to this decision, and that the spin-off was already in the planning stages because the authors were trying to create a storyline that would prove the most satisfying to readers...

Lastly, it seems that a certain someone is taking the credit blame for all of this happening by claiming it was due to his prophetic tweets ;) So please welcome the blogosphere’s newest member, and my friend & fellow UF connoisseur: Bastard!